It’s been an year since I registered my first domain as a reseller. It was “CreativeShoppe.com”. I thought I’d made a great find and this single name would prove to be one of the biggest sales till date.
It was a great name as the two words complemented each other, and I thought an Investor would immediately jump on it. But after numerous sales attempts, I had to let it expire. Since then, I have been reading up a lot at these forums, trying to figure out what sells and what doesent. Figuring out what sells at forums was a task at hand, and still is. There is quite a bit of contrast in what sells at forums and what other domainers tend to develop, or buy for development. My primary sales point is still the forums, where I have till date made some good sales.
Someone had actually pointed me to DNForum from DiscussNames, with a sound advice that only good niches sell there. I was told, I would have trouble selling generic two worders, however great they may be at the forums. Good two worders have a distinct niche and are targeted towards a particular audience. They have a much smaller reseller group and “quick flip” domainers generally avoid buying anything lavish in the two worders. Resellers generally prefer domains which have substantiated a value form in the domainerworld, a particular “Reseller Niche”, which has a predictable value. Some of the value niches at forums are:
1. LL.com / LL.net / LL.org – One of the pricier domains to purchase. These seldom show up at forums and when they do, the price expectation is beyond most. A recent reverse high jacking done on LH dot com made this a riskier domain set to focus on. Some would rather buy a set of LLL.coms instead of putting majority investments in one basket, a riskier proposition.
2. LLL.com / LLL.net / LLL.org – These are comparatively cheaper alternatives to LL domains. These domains are the most saleable at the sales forums. Whilst LLL.coms minimum price range is around 7.5K, .net counterparts have a minimum price of $800 whilst .orgs sell at a minimum of $325. These domains are the safest bet.
LLL.coms are the most sought after and good LLL.coms can go easily 3x – 4x the minimum price range. LLL.nets and LLL.orgs are a poor man’s LLL.com counterparts, but their values too have been steadily growing, whilst not as much as LLL.coms. Domainers predict their values might see a sharp increase in the next couple of years.
3. Dictionary Words – You can seldom find good Dictionary word .com’s being sold at forums. By “good” I mean words which are monetarily profitable, and point to a specific business or product that is of commercial nature. Any word which can earn revenue for an end user or could enhance their business financially would be a good name in my books. These names have slowly been slipping into the hands of long term Investors who no longer put it up for sale (probably a few private sales here or there). The only good .com’s I can see selling are at Auction houses such as Name Jet. These names go for a small fortune and I’m guessing into the hands of long term Investors.
Dictionary .nets are known to be the second best alternative to .com’s. Although some see a future in this extension, most aren’t too excited about these being a profitable niche to invest in. You can currently see a good number of .nets being sold at forums, but the bids coming up are not even close to what I would think they are worth. I have seen two good names up for sale at the forums (Italian and Salad) with good perceived / appraised values, but they have been getting lower than expectation bids. Not many wish to take the risk of putting in big Investments into .nets. What some experts also say is that .net’s aren’t a good development alternative. (.net) dictionary words don’t have fixed perceived values as LLL.nets do, and therefore just Investing in them to later resell for a gain has a small risk factor attached to it. Development isn’t a good alternative either, as it would only glorify the .com counterpart and much of the traffic would leak to it.
Dictionary .org’s are selling. Any word relating to the extension is supposed to be a good combination. People actually think that dictionary .org’s are a better Investment, as developing them makes sense. Names which are related to organizations, NGO, Social Issues etc are good domains to be concentrating on. This I believe is a niche which many haven’t focused on. There are good deals to be had on the dictionary .org’s and I believe they are one of the safer Investments.
4. Dictionary.info – The .info niche has really grown. This niche has actually baffled me. The money people are paying for good dictionary .info’s is crazy. Still, the successful domainers are who change with the wave and adapt to the change. The domains to lookout for in this niche are good Nouns, Business domains and Social Issues.
5. CVCV.coms – A niche that has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 6 months. Names which were selling for around 800-1K six months back are now selling easy for 2.5K and more. Personally, I believe they are much hyped and anyone purchasing one of these NOW at the forums is either looking for a very good deal for a Quick flip, or is not thinking right.
6. LLLL.coms – Again a much hyped about niche. LLLL.coms saw a massive surge in prices from the moment they were all regged. Names which were purchased for $150-200 an year ago, had grown to sell for $400-500. Even new startups had benefitted from the niche, having invested a small amount and getting a fantastic ROI. Top gainers were Quad-Premiums, which soared in prices, and you couldn’t find any for lesser than $350. All the jive with these names slowly died down, as the new Investors had their fill of the niche.
I can now see so many sales threads going unanswered now, and a correction has definitely taken place. I too purchased some good domains when they were cheap, and thankfully resold them when the going was good. I do have around 20 odd left which I think I should keep for the future.
7. CVCV.nets – A speculative niche and not many are interested in it at the moment. Looking at the astounding success of CVCV .com’s, resellers figure the .net counterparts should sell at least 8-10% of the .com’s. I have been stocking up some of these and would wait an year to see where they go.
8. LLLL.nets – A niche I am not familiar with, but I am staying away from them for the moment. It would be a risk investing in them, and I can’t see a surge in prices for them in the near future (with the Vanity Extensions on the way, any new speculation is risky)
It has sure been a good thing going through all these niches. There are others too (ccTLD’s like LLL.ins, Dictionary words etc), but they haven’t had much success till date. With the Vanity extensions around the corner, I would go slow with the buying and start concentrating on some good development.
Cheers.
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